Youngstown Council to weigh paying expert $30K to testify against tire-to-fuel plant

YOUNGSTOWN Youngstown City Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting tonight to consider approving up to $30,000 for an expert witness in its ongoing legal battle against a company that wants to convert old tires into gas and oil.

The meeting comes as the city is appealing a decision by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that permitted SOBE Thermal Energy Solutions to operate a unit converting old tire scraps into synthetic gas at a downtown steam plant. The case is currently before the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC).

A vote couldn't be completed after two council members didn't show up to the meeting.

"We had only five council people present," Mike Ray, fourth ward councilman said. "Samantha Turner and Amber White were not here and we need six council people present to suspend the rules of council," he said. 

Pyrolysis is a process that heats materials, in this instance, tire chips, at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, breaking them down into gas, oil, and a solid residue. SOBE Thermal Energy Solutions plans to use this synthetic gas as an additional fuel source for two existing natural gas boilers.

Youngstown officials have been trying to block the plant's establishment since 2023, initially imposing a one-year temporary ban on such operations in late 2023, which was extended for another year in November 2024.

The city's law department is seeking to hire an expert to provide specialized knowledge and testimony for the appeal. This would be the city's second expert. The proposed ordinance caps the cost at $30,000, to be drawn from the city's professional services budget. Council members will consider passing this as an emergency measure, requiring at least six votes to take immediate effect.

Meanwhile, the legal proceedings before ERAC are progressing with several key deadlines and hearings set to begin next month.

A final pre-hearing conference is scheduled for October 22.